■ MPAA supports indictment
The Motion Picture Association (MPAA) in the US applauded the criminal indictment against Taiwan peer-to-peer operator ezPeer by the public prosecutor's office in Taipei, the association said in a statement yesterday. EzPeer, which provides unauthorized versions of copyrighted works for Internet downloading on a subscription-basis service, was indicted by prosecutors for violating the Copyright Law (著作權法) on March 11, MPAA said in the statement. "We solidly support the criminal indictment by the Prosecutor's Office against ezPeer ... They have reaped the financial rewards without paying a single penny to the copyright owners and now they must face the legal consequences of their actions," said Mike Ellis, senior vice president and regional director for the MPAA's Asia-Pacific Operations. The MPAA's Taiwan office filed a criminal complaint charging that ezPeer was knowingly engaged in infringing copyrights for profit.
■ WTO entry hurts alcohol sales
Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司) chairman Morgan Hwang (黃營杉) told lawmakers yesterday at the Legislative Yuan that the company's market share had been decreasing significantly since Taiwan joined the WTO on Jan. 1, 2002. The company had been facing stiff competition from overseas tobacco and wine companies, particularly those from China, Hwang said. He pointed out that the company's rice wine market share had declined to 8 percent of the nation's total sales of white liquor, and that the counterfeit "Long Life" brand cigarettes from China already held a 10-percent share of the market in Taiwan. Therefore, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor would complete a plan this month that includes a timetable for carrying out its privatization, which was needed to increase competitiveness and make inroads into the Chinese market, Hwang said.
■ Reserves rise to record high
The nation's foreign-exchange reserves, the third-highest in the world, rose to a record US$226.52 billion at the end of last month, up US$1.72 billion from the previous month, the nation's central bank said yesterday. Factors that helped boost the reserves included an increase in foreign capital flowing to the nation and dividends generated from the reserves, the bank said in a statement. The Central Bank of China said Taiwan's foreign reserves, which rank behind those of Japan and China, represent an increase of US$19.891 billion from the end of last year.
■ Foreign investment rises
From the start of this year until last Friday, foreign investors traded in the bourse with a net buy of NT$102.1 billion (US$3.05 billion) recorded, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. Foreign investors purchased NT$1.46 trillion in Taiwan stocks, and sold NT$943.4 billion in stocks between the first trading day of this year and last Friday, resulting in a net buy of NT$102.1 billion. Based on government figures, the total value of Taiwan stocks held by foreign investors stood at NT$3.16 trillion, accounting for almost 22 percent of the overall value of the domestic bourse, an increase of NT$119 billion from the level recorded on March 26.
■ NT dollar down slightly
The NT dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.020 to close at NT$32.949 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$580 million.
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